Never really heard my system

[Vancouver]

I have a question that may seem dumb.

I have probably spent 20k in my HT system, but have never really heard it. Unfortunately I live in a great Loft, but share walls with nieghbors, so I have never had my systemturn up past propbably 40% of if its max. Realistically this situation wont change for me with the next 3-5 years at least.

Here is my questions.

When speaking about sound only do most of you make upgrades becuase you are trying to achieve a system which sounds better LAUDER?

Are you wasting a good percentage of your upgrade dollars on trying to achieve a system that sounds better at low to Medium levels?

 

[Buckle-meister]

...do most of you make upgrades becuase you are trying to achieve a system which sounds better LOUDER?

Personally, I have never considered loudness when looking to purchase some new piece of kit. It doesn't matter to what degree you turn your volume up to. Both my current amp, and that prior to it are powerful enough to blow up my speakers had I dialed them to their maximum. It's quality, not quantity that I chase.

Are you wasting a good percentage of your upgrade dollars on trying to achieve a system that sounds better at low to Medium levels?

In my opinion, absolutely not.

Regards

 

[Geno]

The system I now have is quite capable of blowing things off the walls and causing pain. I live in a single family home, and my neighbors are a good distance away, but I seldom operate my system at those levels. The detail and nuances we strive for are pretty much lost if blood is running out of your ears.

 

[mustang_steve]

My 2-channels mains are more than capable of getting me evicted..and they are shelf speakers.

bass response in an 11x14 room is enough that a subwoofer is not needed, at all. I actually rattled the windows and shook the floor when it was in my home theater, watching lord of the rings, return of the king.. the dream of Gandalf's fight with the Balrog...there is a deep rumble in that track. Without a sub, I managed to shake the place that violently at moderate volumes. With a sub....well those speakers almost overpowered a 120w 8" yamaha subwoofer, I could just barely tell it was even on.

Point is....My setup can do this with less than 40w rms. the speakers in question are 6 1/2" kit speakers.

If you have a small room, you don't need tons of wattage.

Now in a loft, with a high ceiling, you may want some more power, but I wouldn't reccoemnd going overboard anyways. A decent speaker sounds just as good at low power as it will at higher power ranges...so long as you don't underpower the speaker.

 

[Sleestack]

If you have that much invested in your system I highly recommend looking at getting a room correction processor. I use the TACT RCS2.2.x. IMO, it is essential for the 99.9% of us who don't have ideal acoustics. At least check one out. Your ears will thank you.

 

[Sheep]

I live at home with my parents (18 years old).Their bedroom is above mine, which holds my hometheater. I can crank it up when they are not home, or outside, or cleaning etc. The problem is my subwoofer can't keep up with my fronts. When I am watching a movie, I don't like going past the volume when my speakers go out of balance. When I have a better sub, I will listen ot the point when everything is right. No audible distortion, etc etc. But cranking it up in general is a no no for me


Sheep

 

[furrycute]

Really? That much bass from a 6.25inch woofer? I have a hard time believing that.

What kind of bookshelves are they?

Even with my floorstanders with 8inch woofers, and a 200wpc dedicated amp, I have a hard time shaking the walls of my house (well, I don't play bass heavy music that often).

My 2-channels mains are more than capable of getting me evicted..and they are shelf speakers.

bass response in an 11x14 room is enough that a subwoofer is not needed, at all. I actually rattled the windows and shook the floor when it was in my home theater, watching lord of the rings, return of the king.. the dream of Gandalf's fight with the Balrog...there is a deep rumble in that track. Without a sub, I managed to shake the place that violently at moderate volumes. With a sub....well those speakers almost overpowered a 120w 8" yamaha subwoofer, I could just barely tell it was even on.

Point is....My setup can do this with less than 40w rms. the speakers in question are 6 1/2" kit speakers.

If you have a small room, you don't need tons of wattage.

Now in a loft, with a high ceiling, you may want some more power, but I wouldn't reccoemnd going overboard anyways. A decent speaker sounds just as good at low power as it will at higher power ranges...so long as you don't underpower the speaker.

 

[mustang_steve]

For refernce, I live in a third story apartment, so I'm not shaking concrete here. the speakers are in front of my window, about 1.5 feet from the wall.
One speaker is corner loaded, due to how litle usable space there is in that room, which is 11'w x 14'd x 8'H, and with doors and other things in really screwed up places.

The speaker is a partsexpress/Dayton BR-1. They are pretty strong speakers as far as low-end goes....pretty solid down to 45hz. They actually tune the speakers so that the bass was very strong, at the cost of power handling. They can only handle about 70wrms at the most. Overall, they are great speakers for the money, a little midrange coloration, but fantastic for sub-$200 speakers.

The only time it really shakes anyhting much is when used in home theater and the mains are used for the bass reproduction...in which case these puppies are pretty aggressive. I think it's just the bass used in movies is far deeper and louder than the bass foundin most music. i do have problems with rap geting too rowdy on these though...but that's due to them being too close to the wall....they are recomended to be 2' from the walls for optimum sound....but I just don't have the room to do that.

Really? That much bass from a 6.25inch woofer? I have a hard time believing that.

What kind of bookshelves are they?

Even with my floorstanders with 8inch woofers, and a 200wpc dedicated amp, I have a hard time shaking the walls of my house (well, I don't play bass heavy music that often).

 

[eirepaul]

I have a question that may seem dumb.

I have probably spent 20k in my HT system, but have never really heard it. Unfortunately I live in a great Loft, but share walls with nieghbors, so I have never had my systemturn up past propbably 40% of if its max. Realistically this situation wont change for me with the next 3-5 years at least.

Here is my questions.

When speaking about sound only do most of you make upgrades becuase you are trying to achieve a system which sounds better LAUDER?

Are you wasting a good percentage of your upgrade dollars on trying to achieve a system that sounds better at low to Medium levels?

I recently added additional amplification simply because I was finding my receiver was running out of steam while listening to multi-channel music at pretty loud levels in a very large room. My system's receiver did just fine on it's own at moderate levels with m/c, or with just two channel music. Also, I found my speakers needed a bit more power to really sing at high levels. I plan to upgrade to larger units from Paradigm in the near future, which will be a bit more efficient, improving my situation even more.

So, for my particular situation, it made sense to invest in amplifier upgrades (I already had a 2-channel amp gathering dust). It all depends on a lot of things for different people - levels of listening / sources / room size and type / speaker efficiency, etc.

 

[djoxygen]

I don't think the immersive experience relies on loudness. For me, a theater (home or public) with out-of-balance audio is more distracting than one that's not super-loud. Same goes for over-driven speakers. I believe that proper balance (between speakers as well as between and within individual components) and clean, accurate reproduction are far more important than loudness.

That is not to say that sufficient power isn't critical. Your system should have enough power to handle some good dynamic range. You don't want a single volume setting to leave a whisper too quiet and then distort when a Balrog must be fought.

 

[deftech]

I moved from a rather large apt building with very thick walls to a much nicer but smaller building with average walls. I am into sound quality much more than quantity. I have a system with much more then lease breaking spl output. I must say I do miss the old days when I would occasionally kick back with a beer and listen to stone temple pilots on "11." Cant do that where I am now. And I had to turn my svs sub way down as well